King Coal

KING COAL is coming to the Floralee for a special weekend! We’ll have five special screening of the new feature-length documentary by West Virginia-raised and Academy Award-nominated filmmakers, Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Curren Sheldon. The film is Rated Y and is appropriate for families and children.

A lyrical tapestry of a place and people, KING COAL meditates on the complex history and future of the coal industry and the communities it has shaped. The film remixes present-day moments of life in the coalfields with archival footage and atmospheric invocations of the land to alchemize something new — a rare, nuanced depiction of our community. Young girls learning the story of coal anchors the journey while McMillion Sheldon’s poetic voiceover guides us through the experience and an expressive score differentiates the reality of coal from a more imaginative world. The hybrid approach allows McMillion Sheldon to explore the act of storytelling itself and is a magical reclamation of the power of stories to shape how a region sees itself.

KING COAL premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and has since played at 15 festivals in the United States and Canada and won three jury awards. The film was also named one of Esquire’s Most Anticipated Docs of 2023.

Follow the film on Instagram at @kingcoalfilm and at www.kingcoalfilm.com.